Happy Holidays!

Alright, it is about time for an update! I have just finished my six days in a row at work in order to get two days in a row off from work. I don't think my feet could have handled much more.

The other day we received a package from Aaron's folks, with some gifts from them and Aaron's aunt and uncle. This is what was included:






A knife and fork set for roasts, an origami page a day calendar, an oven mitt, embroidered toilet paper, and a Kleenex holder


Then we got a package from Aaron's folks back in October that we weren't allowed to open until now. We opened it today, and it was a f slice toaster oven. Unfortunately, we already have a toaster oven. So we tried to take it to Wal*Mart to get some in store credit, but it did not exist in their system. Mostly because it was from Pamida, but we thought we'd take a shot at Wal*Mart, since they take back anything.

After that, we did a big deep clean of the apartment and moved some furniture around. We were busy bees today.
Here is the bedroom before:


And now here's the bedroom after today:



The kitchen before:

And today:


That's really all I have right now as far as good pictures go. I have been taking lots of pictures with my new camera that Aaron got me last month, but none of them are great (because of the photographer, not the equipment) and I have just been goofing around.

We got 3-4 inches of snow yesterday while I was at work, which was exciting (or terrifying, depending on your situation), but I managed to make it home all in one piece, despite the plows putting all the snow on the exit ramp I needed to use and making me burst through the snow drift. Scary.

I am still waiting to hear back from the insurance company about the background checks and such. They have started calling the references that I supplied to them, and also my previous employers for the last five years. I have never had a company call back my previous employers before that I know of. Or at least so quickly if they did. So we're making progress. I'm sure I won't hear back from them until after the New Year. Oh well. I have steady employment for the time being, and that is all that matters.

Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we have been invited over to Jamie and Karlie's place for a ham dinner, which sounds excellent. It will be nice to get out of the newly cleaned apartment and spend time with friends. It's weird being away from family for the first time during the holidays. We will have an orphan's Christmas, just like we had an orphan's Thanksgiving last month.

Aaron and I have been sticking to our "Game Night" and playing cards or Scrabble at least once a week every week since I suggested it over a month ago. It's something nice for us to do so we can sit and talk with each other instead of being on our computers, right next to each other, ignoring the other person. Not that we ignore each other on purpose, it just happens when you get engrossed in what you are doing on the internet.

Anyway, I am just rambling now. Happy Holidays to everyone out there who is reading this!

Work

Work has been quite hectic lately.  There's less than one week until Christmas, and parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are feeling that.  You can tell because they come in looking for one sort of specific item, such as, "I need to know what's 'in' with the nine year olds this year."  Okay...do you want clothing?  Accessories?  Toys?  "Oh, anything, I guess."  Well that doesn't help me.  Does she like Hannah Montana or High School Musical?  "What're those?"  Never mind.  What colors does she like?  "I don't know."

Then why the hell did you come in here?  Go to Gap, damnit.

I am getting closer and closer to knowing about the insurance position; I have submitted my information for a background check (which I will easily clear), and submitted more information online that I already submitted when I applied for the position.  Who knows.  I think since we've made it this far, I have a really good shot, but who knows how many other people are applying for the job, too?

Aaron and I don't have any plans for Christmas; we don't have enough time off in a row to go home and visit, nor do we have the money.  So it's just going to be a day like any other day, I suppose.  But that's okay.  It will be nice to just sit down and relax for a couple of days (for the first time in a month), instead of always mucking about and having to do something.

Anyway, that's about it for me now.  Just a quick update before I head off to work.

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Step Two

Okay, we are getting closer and closer to knowing more about the insurance job. I got a voicemail and a bunch of emails from them yesterday. I returned the voicemail with another voicemail (because they never just answer their phone at this place, apparently), and have to start working on the emails. See, the next step is to do background checks and another type of application with references and what not. I have to also call my references ahead of time to make sure that they will be able to reply within a timely fashion.

I already know who I am picking for my references. My manager from Kmart because he told me to use him as a reference when I was leaving the store, and I always liked him, and the HR gal from Caddy's because she was kind enough to write me a wonderful letter of recommendation, and I didn't even ask her to do that! Now I just need to get in contact with them.

Work at Von Maur is busy busy busy. Every item that comes through the registers seems to be a gift. Our store does free gift wrapping upstairs, but before they can do that, we at the registers have to get it looking purdy in tissue paper and a box. And if it doesn't look perfect, the folks at gift wrapping call down and gripe at you about it. So I'll be glad when the holidays are over and I don't have to box every item that I see. But I know the commission on that stuff is going to be nice, for sure.

Well, that's about it for now, I think. I have a little bit of Christmas shopping to finish up, and then I can relax.

Dream

Aaron and I were driving through a town we hadn't meant to go to, trying to get out.  We drove through a neighborhood with really weird trees in all the yards.  Some looked like giant yellow pine trees-slash-cacti.   Then as we rounded a bend, the highway was blocked off at a bridge; the entire road that went under the overpass was filled with cement and wood, completely blocking the road.

Then, my car was in a field, and six feet deep in a hole.  There was no way we were going to get it out, so we took our things, and crawled out of the hole.  We walked towards a house, but there were people in the house that didn't want us to leave that town at all.  They were going to keep us there.  I beat one of them up pretty badly with my purse (it's made of license plates), and Aaron was worried that "Now you've done it" and we were never going to get out of there. 

We left that house and went into the back yard, and it was filled with a long, narrow building with several doors.  Aaron wanted to check it out, but I just wanted to leave.  We went around to the front yard, passed by the car in the ground, and found a couple of trailers to hide between, because we knew someone was after us.  Aaron insisted in going inside one of the trailers.  I tried to stop him, but he'd already knocked and entered.  It was filled with dogs sleeping, but no human was there.  In the trailer next to us, a man started to get out of it.  He was very tall, but wanted to help us escape.

We all climbed on the top of the trailers and hid from the men chasing us.  Then they spotted us, as we jumped down and ran into another house.  There was another guy in there, walking towards me.  I started running at him, jumped, and kicked him in the chest with both of my feet.  He was knocked down and was not going to get back up.  In the next room was another guy, smaller, but faster. 

Then the alarm clock went off and I couldn't get the dream back again.

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shooting

This afternoon when I was at work, I had a customer tell me that there had been a shooting at one of our Von Maur stores, the one in Nebraska. Must've been on the news. Then my manager got pulled away with all the other managers, and they were told about the incident. I guess nine people (including the shooter) were killed, but so far, they have not linked the shooting to the store; it seemed premeditated, but not having to do with anyone or anything specific. Here's a link to some local news on the situation.

I never felt ill at ease or worried about the incident while I was at work. But it's still disconcerting all the same.

On a different note, my parents are coming back from Australia today, I discovered a sty in my eye that is causing quite a bit of discomfort every time I blink, and I have my second interview at the insurance place tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

new stuff

Well, I have a second interview at the insurance place this Thursday at 10am, so I am quite excited about that. They have an opening in short term disability, and although I have no idea what it's all about, I'm a quick learner. I feel a little bad about Von Maur and only being there for a short period of time, and leaving during the holiday season when the Girls' department is so short, but I have to do what's best for me.

Whenever I am thinking about this, I start thinking about Pizza Hut, for some reason. Getting a job just for the money and not planning on staying. I had another dream about Pizza Hut, that I had come back for just a day to deliver pizzas, and didn't show up for anything else. It's a guilt thing, I know it. I feel guilty about just leaving and not giving two weeks notice. But that won't be the case with VM; I will give a two week notice.

Anyway. Today is my day off, so I am patiently waiting for my new Nokia 6120 Classic phone to come by way of the UPS truck. He's only about an hour later than he said he would be, and I can't go anywhere until he shows up, because I have to be there to sign for it. It's a fancy smart phone with internet browsing and a pretty fast processor.

We got a ton of snow here on Saturday, and driving to and from work was slightly terrifying, but by Sunday they had the roads clear, and it was much less scary. Brushing off my car in a skirt and nylons was definitely no fun at all. Thank goodness for a garage, though, that saved me some time in the morning on Sunday before I had to go to work.

Well, Aaron and I are becoming vegetarians, I guess, because we need to lose weight and are apparently incapable of working out. So far, so good, but it's only been three days. We will still eat fish and eggs, so that's not such a big deal. Also, organic food is big out here, so we've been getting a lot of organic foods here, too. Hopefully this will help us lose some weight and be healthier, more energetic people.

Well, that's about it for me. Until next time!

what a hassle

So I need to get new plates for my car in MN since the old ones expire this month. I'm trying to find the title of the car; nowhere to be seen, and I tore apart the entire apartment. I get a hold of Dad (who's in Australia), and he says Mom thinks they're in the safe deposit box. In Wyoming. That does me no good. So he can fax me power of attorney to put MN plates on the car. That should be fun.

Work has been crazy, but only because the season is upon us. I'm already sick and tired of Christmas music because we have been playing it non stop at the store since the first day of November. Fortunately, it's just piano music and there are no words to get stuck in my head for most of the songs.

I just got a call back from the insurance place; they have a position open in short term disability and are wondering if I'm still interested (duh, of course I am), and would like to set up a time next week to interview with the short term disability supervisor. Yay!

So, we'll see how all of this goes, and hopefully the tabs on my car don't expire before I can get new plates. Yikes.

weekend update

Alright! It's time for an update, finally! Not that there hasn't been anything going on; that's the complete opposite. Just that I haven't had the time or energy to post something new. Work is going pretty well. I've caught on to everything pretty quickly, and am finally getting used to being on my feet in dress shoes all day long. I finally found the right pair of shoes that are going to keep me from being in pain all day, and that's 99% of the battle.

I interviewed at the insurance place last Friday, and I think that it went really well. I haven't heard back from them yet, but hopefully within this week I will hear from them. I really really really want to get this job. Especially before the holiday season gets in full swing. They've already started playing Christmas music at the store, and I'm sick of it. Blech.

The weather is cooling off quite a bit around here, and all the leaves have fallen off the trees, but the grass is still green. So it doesn't look QUITE like barren winter yet, but I'm sure after we add a little snow to the ground, that will be the case. Still no snow that's stuck to anything yet, but a couple of flurries in the air over the last week.

My parents have left for their Australia trip and I talked to them over Skype this afternoon (which was actually Saturday morning for them) as they were getting ready to go out to the Great Barrier Reef for some SCUBA diving and a submerging boat trip. Then tomorrow is the rain forest. I'm so jealous. They are 18 hours ahead of us, so finding a good time to talk is hard, but they don't need to be spending all their free time talkin' to me, anyway.

I finally got my first paycheck from work today, so thank goodness for that. Anyway, that's about it for me now. I'll try to update more frequently!

Halloween pictures!

Sorry this took so long to get up! The party was a week ago, but since I started work, I haven't really had much time on the desktop computer on which I loaded the pictures. It's in the bedroom, and when I'm getting ready in the morning for work, I don't want to bother Aaron because he's still asleep, so I've been using the laptop in the living room in the mornings to check the weather and traffic reports, and haven't really turned this computer on most of the week.

Anyway, here they are, in all their glory. Aaron was a lumberjack, the only thing needed for his costume were the suspenders that I found at Wal*Mart, and then I was a bear. There's a before the party picture, and some party pictures. Enjoy!









The costumes were a hit, everyone liked them, and we had a lot of fun. We didn't leave the house until 4am because Aaron and Bret were showing the few people who were left over and awake videos on YouTube for about an hour. We had a really good time, but I was ready to go home and sleep in my own bed, and had to practically drag Aaron out of the house to go home.

Well, there ya have it.

I'll tell ya about work later. Adios!